Biography
Maria, a classical pianist and avid violinist, and has shared the stage with a multitude of performers such as Alexander Markov, Francesca DePasquale and Chris Botti. While Maria frequently presents solo and collaborative performances in the Philadelphia area, she has also performed solo piano in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as a result of winning various competitions. As a violinist, she has played as the principal second violinist with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and has performed as a member of the Baylor Symphony Orchestra and the Waco Symphony Orchestra. She also enjoys playing other genres of music on violin, especially jazz, with her jazz pianist father. In 2019, Maria received the Association of Church Musicians of Philadelphia Organ Grant to fund private organ lessons and is currently the organist at Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church in Strafford, PA.
Maria performed for an opera program in Mondavio, Italy in whish she accompanied Mozart’s Don Giovanni. She is a musical director for the Delaware Valley Opera Company and has music directed and performed piano reductions for the productions of Goyescas, Abu Hassan, and Il matrimonio segreto.
She is the pianist for the Haverford and Bryn Mawr College choirs, Staff Pianist Artist in Residence at Temple University, and Staff Pianist for the Philadelphia Young Pianists’ Academy (PYPA) Piano Festival.
Maria frequently performs new music and is the pianist of Ensō New Music, a chamber ensemble that plays new music composed by living composers.
Maria has studied under Sheila Paige, Jane Abbott-Kirk, Charles Abramovic, and Lambert Orkis and is an advocate of the Taubman technique. She earned her B.M. in Piano Performance from Baylor University in Waco, TX and earned a double M.M. in Piano Performance and Collaborative Piano from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.